Documentary's star vamooses with focus

Filmmaker Jean-Pierre Limosin, ("Carmen," "Novo") returns to the documentary form with this disjointed immersion into a clan of Japanese Yakuza (organized crime consortiums).

Before embarking on his 18-month project, Limosin agreed to Yakuza clan leader Mr. Kumagai's filming conditions, which barred any recording of the gang's criminal activities.

As a result, one might think that the practices of geisha and Yakuza dovetail nicely, given the time Limosin devotes to capturing the nuances of tea preparations by newbie members.

That limitation aside, "Young Yakuza" suffers a more serious blow when its cinematic portal -- 20-year-old Naoki, who joins because his mother just can't deal with him anymore -- takes a hike midway through.

He reappears at the end, but in the meantime, we're left with some confusing management issues (Mr. Kumagai evidently makes a bad business decision and must reconstitute his crew) and some Japanese rap (which contains in English the adjective form of a 12-letter word so popular with U.S. rappers, proving some things are universal).

Limosin's film gets some traction when Kumagai reflects elegiacally on the good old days of the Yakuza (think "Lonesome Dove" in Japan) and when he worries about whether young people today are interested in signing on for a job of strict hierarchy, short haircuts and no pay.

If Limosin had made Kumagai the heart of his film, Naoki's wanderlust would have been but a footnote in a more interesting film.

In Japanese with English subtitles. Plays Fri.-Thu. at Facets Cinematheque, 1517 W. Fullerton Ave., 773-281-4114, www.facets.org/cinematheque.